


I See You: The Long Version

by AllTheCatsJoinIn



Series: I See You [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien confronts his father about Lila, Adrienette in love, Angst, Bullying, Canon Compliant, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Identity Reveal, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, Smart Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, a little Marichat, adrien stands up for marinette, adrienette friendship, and just a pinch of LadyNoir, post new york special
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-07
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28603293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheCatsJoinIn/pseuds/AllTheCatsJoinIn
Summary: Ladybug hadn’t meant to end up in the same alley as Chat Noir just as his transformation dropped.  How will Marinette react, knowing that while Chat loves Ladybug, Adrien has been friend-zoning Marinette for years?First part is the same as the short version, but Ladybug and Chat's conversation at the end of the short version ends differently here. This longer version includes more resolution (feelings, friendship, gradual love, and some things from the show that just bug me *cough* Chloe and Lila *cough*).If you've read the short version, I suggest you skip to the end of Chapter 4 unless you really want to reread it - the last two paragraphs of Chapter 4 are where the differences start (it will be marked!)
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: I See You [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095887
Comments: 29
Kudos: 189





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As a quick note, I upgraded the rating on this version to teen because there is mention of bullying, and some kissing. There's nothing graphic or particularly upsetting (IMO), but I thought this might be safer.

Ladybug truly hadn’t meant to end up in the same alley as Chat Noir just as his transformation dropped. Normally she was really careful to avoid her partner once they went their separate ways. Today, though, she was very distracted - she was supposed to meet her friends (and Adrien!) at Andre’s ice cream cart in less than ten minutes. While no one would be surprised if she was late, she would hate to waste even one moment of precious time she could be spending with Adrien. Things had been even weirder between them after the class trip to New York, but after their incredibly romantic slow dance in the moonlight, she couldn’t help but hold out some hope that maybe he was finally beginning to see her as more than a friend. 

She zipped down behind a large dumpster, intent on transforming quickly so she could run the two blocks to the bridge and maybe be on time for once, just as the green magic of his transformation washed over Chat. Before she could even close her eyes, Adrien Agreste was standing before her in all his tall, blond, green-eyed supermodel glory. Ladybug felt her mouth drop open as Adrien awkwardly flashed his million-dollar smile at her, blinking in surprise and faux innocence. “Oh, um, hello Ladybug,” he said, offering a small wave and trying to act like everything was normal, clearly hoping she hadn’t seen him transform. It would have been laughable if she’d had any breath left in her lungs.

If her brain had been functioning, maybe she could have grabbed that chance to play it off and pretend that nothing had changed, that she hadn’t just realized that the boy she loved was her super hero partner, _who she’d been rejecting_ _for the past two and a half years_. Unfortunately, Marinette.exe was not currently running, so she just stood there with her mouth gaping open, staring at him with blue eyes growing wider and wider.

Adrien rubbed his neck sheepishly, a familiar gesture that she suddenly realized she’d watched Chat do often, whenever he was embarrassed or flustered. His cheeks turned red while his wide eyes pleaded with her. “I’m sorry, Ladybug!” he apologized anxiously, taking her hands. “It was an accident! Please don’t take my Miraculous!” 

Plagg flew out from behind him and the small black cat Kwami made his own pleading gesture. “Ladybug, it’s not his fault! He didn’t see you and I couldn’t hold the transformation any longer! Please, don’t punish him for that.”

Ladybug shook her head, then shook it again for good measure, trying to remember how to speak. Words, words were good. She closed her eyes so she couldn’t see him, and found that made it easier. She pictured her goofy partner Chat instead, silly kitty in a black cat superhero costume, and that helped more. “I’m not going to take your ring, Chat. You don’t have to give up your Miraculous because I know your identity. That was Master Fu’s rule, but now that I’m the Guardian, I make my own rules. I can’t believe you would even think that after New York. I need you, kitty. That doesn’t change because I know who you are now. We’re just going to have to be a lot more careful, so Hawk Moth and Mayura don’t find out.”

Silence. She opened her eyes to see Adrien nodding seriously, which made her heart start beating faster again. She stared at him, the look in his eyes that she’d recognize anywhere, because it was the same as the one she saw in the mirror every time she thought about Adrien. “You love me…” she whispered, inching closer to him as her eyes started to widen as realizations crashed down on her in an overwhelming flood of sudden knowledge. “You… You love me?’ she repeated, suddenly unsure.

“I love you, Ladybug,” he repeated firmly, taking her hands and pulling her against him. “I’ve loved you for years.” Their faces inched closer as they stared at each other, and everything was almost perfect, except… the gears in Marinette’s brain were still turning. 

His lips with centimeters from hers when she suddenly stiffened in his arms. He watched her pull away quickly as her expression slowly morphed from happy and hopeful to one of near devastation.

“You love… Ladybug,” she repeated, looking away as a tear slipped down her cheek. He reached out to her, panicked, but she pulled her hand away. “I love you!” he affirmed, trying to figure out what he’d done wrong.

“No,” Ladybug shook her head, glancing over at him with swimming eyes. “You love this,” gesturing to her costume. “I’m not like this out of the mask. You don’t actually love _me_ ,” she continued painfully, choking on each word, “You love Ladybug.”

“No!” he exclaimed, watching as she started to leave and desperately grabbing to stop her.

“Don’t!” she yelled, turning to him with a fierce glare that backed him up a few paces, even as his welling emerald green eyes continued to beseech her. “You don’t love the real me. I know you don’t. You’ve never seen past the mask. We’ve met… more than once, as civilians,” she continued, knowing she should stop but unable to help herself. “You’ve never looked at the real me like this. You don’t love me, you love Ladybug. And that’s not enough. I deserve someone who loves me for myself, not someone who’s just going to be disappointed in who’s behind my mask because I could never measure up to your impossible ideal. I’m a person, Chat, not just a superhero, and you don’t see me.”

She turned and zipped away, yelling, “Don’t you dare follow me!”

He watched helplessly, then sat down on the dirty concrete when his legs refused to hold him. He cried, wracking sobs, as Plagg tried unsuccessfully to comfort him. “I ruined it, Plagg. She was so happy when she realized who I was… What happened? What does she mean I don’t see her? I’ve always seen her!”

Plagg shook his head, wanting to explain but knowing he couldn’t. He patted Adrien’s cheek, wishing there was something he could say to comfort him. Looking up, Plagg suddenly cried, “Look out, Adrien!” Before Adrien could even move, Plagg had flown up and, opening his mouth impossibly wide, snapped an Akuma out of the air and swallowed it. Patting his tummy, he burped, releasing a noxious black bubble that popped before dissipating into nothing.

Adrien wiped his cheeks, taking deep breaths to try and calm down. “Thanks Plagg,” Adrien said, sounding a little awed. He’d had no idea his Kwami could do that.

“No problem, kid,” Plagg said smugly, coming down to perch on his knee and letting out a small pleased purr.

Adrien spent a few more minutes trying to center himself before getting up and dusting himself off to go meet his friends, realizing he needed to wait to think about this until he was calmer. The last thing Ladybug needed today was to have to fight an Akumatized version of himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien gives some advice...

Marinette was almost half an hour late to meet her friends for ice cream. When she finally showed up, Alya took one look at her swollen eyes and red cheeks, slung an arm around her, and went to buy her some ice cream. Adrien was sitting with Kagami, dissecting their latest fencing match and how to improve. Marinette gave him a strange look at she walked past, before going to sit next to Luka and the rest of Kitty Section. She seemed to immediately become immersed in their discussion about preparations for their next gig, offering some suggestions for tweaks she could make to their costumes, and Adrien shrugged, glad that it seemed like his friend was going to be okay. Still, her face nagged him while he tried to pay attention to Kagami. He hated to see any of his friends upset, but it particularly bothered him when it was Marinette. She was so kind and sweet, so thoughtful and giving to all of her friends, and it pained him to see her look so sad. He kept sneaking glances at her, and noticed that although she’d pasted on a smile, her shoulders were still hunched, and her eyes mostly downturned instead of on her friends as she unconsciously wrung her hands in her lap.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. Quickly excusing himself from his friend Kagami, he got up and made his way over to crouch behind Marinette. Waiting for a break in the band’s conversation, he reached out to tap her shoulder. She jumped and would have fallen off the wall, but he quickly caught her shoulders and tugged her gently back upright while her cheeks turned bright red. She started to stutter and mumble at him like usual, but then a strange expression slid across her face too quickly for him to catch, and she straightened up, looking him in the eyes confidently.

“Hi Adrien, what’s up?” she asked, the sudden calm in her voice catching him off guard a little.

“Can we talk for a minute?” he asked, blinking at her but jerking his head to indicate he wanted to put a little distance between them and the group. His heart sunk a little at the flash of apprehension she showed at this suggestion, but then she shrugged and that strange calm slid over her again.

“Sure Adrien,” she replied, and followed him over to a spot next to a large maple tree off to the other side of the foot path, far enough away that the rest of their friends wouldn’t hear them. He hated the sadness he could see in her beautiful cerulean eyes, wishing there was something he could do to cheer her up.

“Are you okay?” he asked, placing a supportive hand on her shoulder. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but if you do… well, if there’s anything I can do, please tell me. You’re my friend, Marinette. I care about you.”

That strange expression crossed her face again, lingering this time, but he still couldn’t interpret it. “Thanks Adrien, but I’m pretty sure you can’t make me feel better right now,” she finally replied, patting his shoulder briefly before turning to go back to the group.

He caught her hand, careful not to yank her or make her lose her balance. “Really?” He asked gently. “I’m a pretty good listener. I promise not to judge.”

She stared at him some more before shrugging as an odd mischievous light entered her eyes, gleaming even as they seemed to grow sadder. “Okay,” she shrugged and sat down on the bench beside them, patting to indicate he should join her.

“I’m upset, because I’ve been in love with this boy for… a long time, but I didn’t exactly realize it until recently. He likes to flirt with me… sometimes, but I always dismissed it, because I didn’t think he knew me that well, so I just assumed he was like that with everyone. I just found out some things about him, though. At first I thought it was good, that I liked him even more than I thought, and I understood him better, so maybe we could finally be together, but… then it made me realize there was no way his feelings were real, that there are just so many things he doesn’t know about me. It seems like it’s just… the superficial stuff about me that he likes.” Anger and hurt marred her normally sweet voice, making her sound almost hoarse as she explained.

Adrien blinked at her, taking a minute to think about what she said. He ignored the pang he felt as he realized Marinette had feelings for Luka. Somehow even though the thought of her with Nino was no big deal a while ago, now the idea that she was in love with Luka made his stomach twist uncomfortably. He tried to ignore it and soldiered on, determined to find a way to make his good friend feel better. “Well, it sounds like maybe you didn’t know Luka as well as you thought, either, right?”

Marinette stared at him some more, with a strange incredulous expression that made him feel like he was missing something. “It’s not Luka,” she finally told him, looking away.

“Oh,” Adrien responded awkwardly, “Sorry, I just assumed… You’ve been spending a lot of time with him lately and he really seems to like you.”

He glanced at Marinette’s profile and saw her mouth quirk and then grimace. She sighed. “Luka is a great guy. It would be easier if I could like him. But my heart has belonged to someone else for a while. That’s why I said no when he asked me out.”

Adrien blinked, surprised. He’d thought Marinette really liked Luka. This other guy must be something special if she’d turned Luka down for him. “So who is the guy you love?” escaped him before he had a chance to realize that maybe his friend would not want to answer that question. They both flushed, and Marinette looked away, silent. 

Finally she replied tensely, “I don’t think it matters now that I know he doesn’t really like me.”

Adrien thought for a moment before replying, “But it sounds like you don’t know this guy as well as you thought, either, right?”

Marinette eyed him and then shrugged. “I guess,” she admitted dubiously.

“So maybe instead of judging him, you should put in the effort to let him know you. If you really love him, isn’t he worth it? I don’t have a lot of experience with… things like this…” He tailed off briefly, looking sad, before shaking it off and looking back up at her with something like hope in his eyes. “But I always thought, if you really love someone, you should forgive them when they mess up, right?”

She looked away, and he saw her eyes well up out of the corner of his eye as he panicked, realizing maybe he wasn’t helping the way he wanted to. “This was really big, though,” she sobbed, hand over her face. “It’s not just some stupid little argument, it made me feel like he doesn’t know me at all!”

Adrien tentatively reached over and put his arms around her shoulders. She stiffened, but then melted against him, curling up against his chest as she cried in a way that made him wish he still had his super suit on. He wanted to fight dragons for her. Or maybe just go beat up the guy who’d made his friend cry.

Adrien handed her his handkerchief (one of his father’s weird formal eccentricities, he always insisted Adrien carry one. Suddenly it didn’t seem so crazy anymore). After she wiped her face and blew her nose, he tilted her chin up so he could look her in the eyes again. “Marinette,” he said gently, rubbing a thumb along her soft cheek, “don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not the most open person sometimes. Heck, we’ve known each other for years, and while I love hanging out with you and consider you one of my closest friends, I feel like it’s taken you a long time to start being comfortable around me, and there are tons of things I still don’t know about you. Are you sure you’re giving this guy a fair chance to really know you? Because if you did, I’m sure he’d love the real you. You’re an amazing girl Marinette. He’d be so lucky to have you,” he forced out, trying to ignore the way the words soured his stomach.

She gazed at him, a blush rising to cover her cheeks, before she leaned back out of his hand. She turned to look out at the Seine, fiddling with her fingers and appearing deep in thought. Finally, she turned towards him again. “I guess I’m worried that even if I did, he’d only love me for the superficial reasons. Maybe he’d even be disappointed with who I really am.”

“No way,” Adrien said warmly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in for a side hug. “There’s no chance he’d be disappointed.”

Marinette toed a crack in the sidewalk with her sparkly pink ballet flat, frowning, though her deepening blush suggested she’d heard him. “You really think it’s my fault?” she asked in a small voice.

Adrien frowned too, not meaning to heap blame on his friend. “It doesn’t sound like there’s fault, really, that’s not what I meant. I just meant, if you love him, make sure he only loves the superficial stuff before you give up on him. I can’t imagine he wouldn’t love all of you, if you let him. Have you tried?”

Marinette opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again, rubbing her arm. “I mean,” she started hesitantly, “I’ve definitely tried, but maybe… you’re right about it being difficult to open up. It’s scary.”

He nodded. “Look, I know I don’t know much about the situation, but from what you told me, it doesn’t sound like he wanted to hurt you, right? He must be a good guy for you to love him.”

She nodded, eyes down.

He shrugged, gesturing with his open hand, “So maybe give him a chance to make it right?”

Marinette sighed, and leaned her head on his shoulder. “When did you get so smart?” she asked rhetorically.

“Hey,” Adrien objected, pretending to be upset as he smirked. “I’ve always been smart, you’d know that by now if we talked more.”

Marinette blinked up at him, shock slipping over her face, but before he could back-peddle, she beamed at him. He stared dumbly at her; while he’d seen a lot of expressions on Marinette’s face over the years they’d been friends, most of the cringey, uncomfortable variety, she almost never smiled at him like this, for real. Now there were butterflies in his stomach. He smiled back at her, feeling his cheeks get warm.

“You might be right ki-Agreste,” she said, smiling at him. He raised an eyebrow, realizing that was the first time she’d stuttered their entire conversation. Maybe he was finally making progress in getting Marinette to be comfortable around him. He grinned widely at her, and her eyes went wide as she blushed crimson and mumbled something incoherent before suddenly running away. Or maybe not.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tikki drops some wisdom, and Marinette takes some time to reflect.

Marinette finally escaped Alya, who had been insatiable in her desire to hear how her conversation with Adrien had gone, and went home. She was deep in thought all the way back to the bakery, and after saying hello to her parents, ended up on the balcony with a plate of strawberry-flavored macaroons untouched in front of her and her sketchbook sitting idle in her lap while she stared into space.

After a while, Tikki flew up and patted her face, trying to get her attention. She looked down at her cute bright red Kwami and smiled. “What’s up, Tikki?”

“You tell me,” Tikki suggested, curiosity shining in her big blue eyes. 

Marinette sighed and tugged on one of her dark silky pigtails. “Do you think Adrien was right?”

Tikki smiled a little at her. “He’s right, he is pretty smart. Who knew Chat Noir would be so insightful? I thought he gave you some very good advice.”

Marinette nodded, chewing on her pencil. “I mean, he’s right, I’ve always had trouble talking to Adrien as Marinette. He still doesn’t know me that well.”

“That’s true. Also you’ve told him a few times as Marinette that you don’t have feelings for him. He’s actually worried before that you don’t like him, right? I don’t think he has any idea that you love him. When you said you loved someone, he assumed you meant Luka. That probably makes him less inclined to even consider you romantically. After getting turned down by Ladybug so many times, Chat is hardly going to be eager to pursue someone else who’s told him she’s not interested.”

Marinette’s eyes drooped and she sighed, remembering all the times she’d gotten flustered and stammered out the exact opposite of her feelings to Adrien, because she was so nervous to tell him she cared.

“And don’t forget, you went to extraordinary lengths to make sure he wouldn’t think you were Ladybug. And he already loved Ladybug. Chat is super loyal, he’d view it as a betrayal of Ladybug if he started to think of anyone else that way.”

Marinette nodded again. “You’re right, he would. I mean, I guess it’s really not that different with Adrien and Chat, right? I love Adrien, and was never able to see Chat that way because I couldn’t see beyond my feelings for Adrien to the boy in the mask, even though they are actually pretty similar… Of course. God, I really should have seen it sooner.” Marinette groaned, pulling her hair again. “I’m an idiot.”

“But Marinette, do you feel different about Adrien because he’s Chat?”

Marinette chewed her pencil some more, thinking. “Different, yes, of course. There’s this whole other side to him I didn’t know about. It doesn’t change how I feel about him, though. If anything… it makes me love him more. I do love Chat, so much, it’s just that before today my feelings for him were platonic. I had no idea Adrien was so brave! And I trust him more than anyone.” Marinette nodded, as the intensity of her feelings made her tear up again.

“So the fact that you didn’t have romantic feelings towards Chat doesn’t invalidate your love of Adrien, right?” Tikki prompted, eyeing her shrewdly.

“No…” Marinette replied, rubbing her face as she began to realize how much she’d overreacted earlier.

Marinette frowned, thinking about it some more and starting to look sad before turning to Tikki. “I can’t help it Tikki, even though you’re right, me not wanting to date Chat just still feels different from Adrien not wanting to date Marinette.”

Tikki sighed. “Marinette, if anything I think that’s worse. After all, you know Chat better than Adrien knows Marinette, and you didn’t romantically love him.”

Marinette frowned, “But that’s the thing, Tikki, I’m not sure I did know him better. There are a lot of things about Chat that didn’t make sense until I knew he was Adrien. I thought his teasing and flirting were always ridiculously over the top, but now I’m realizing, maybe in some way that was a response to how repressed he has to be normally because his father is so controlling... maybe I don’t really know him that well, after all. I mean, he’s so quiet and serious most of the time as Adrien, and so over the top as Chat… I wonder if maybe the real Adrien, when he’s comfortable and free to be himself and doesn’t feel like he has to impress anyone or put on an act… maybe that’s someone I haven’t even seen yet.”

“Marinette, it sounds to me like maybe you both need to take some time to get to know each other better,” Tikki suggested, “Without blaming each other or feeling hurt by unrealistic expectations.”

Marinette frowned. “I think you’re right, Tikki. But how do I do that?”

Tikki thought for a minute and suggested, “Well, seems like one way would be to get closer to Adrien as Marinette. I think if you trusted him enough to show him the real you, he’d probably be able to do the same.”

Marinette gnawed on her lower lip, then suddenly nodded decisively. “You’re right Tikki. I’ve been so nervous around Adrien, because I put him up on this pedestal, the same way Chat did for Ladybug. I need to make an effort to actually be his friend and let him be mine. Then maybe he’ll see me, and I can get to know the real him. I think… part of why it was so hard to be myself around him was that I never fully trusted what he would do if he found out about my feelings. But I know I can trust Chat. He might not feel the same way, but he’d never hurt me on purpose.”

Tikki was about to reply when the Akuma alert went off on Marinette’s phone.

“Tikki, spots on!”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat finally talk, and Chat accepts his quest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As noted in the overall summary, this is the longer version of I See You; the versions diverge in this chapter. I've indicated where the differences start, two paragraphs from the end.

The Akuma was a tough one, not because it was especially dangerous, but because Chat was completely distracted the whole time, and seemed afraid to even look at Ladybug. When she picked him up to throw him, planning to use his cataclysm, he jumped so much she dropped him, landing them both in an awkward pile on the ground. Ladybug had to fight alone while Chat went to recharge, and they had to fight for ten more minutes after that before he managed to destroy the Akumatized object, a heart charm dangling off Heartbreaker’s keychain.

Before he could leap away after the fight, Ladybug grabbed his tail. “Recharge and meet at the usual spot in ten,” she said, looking at him sternly before she swung away, not giving him time to protest.

She de-transformed in an alley to feed Tikki (making sure it was empty first!), then made her way to the platform near the top of the Eiffel Tower they usually used when they needed to talk. A few minutes later, she could see Chat approaching, slowly and more reluctantly than normal. When his black combat boots finally hit the platform, she looked at him and nearly cooed in sympathy, suddenly feeling super guilty. His kitty ears were down, belt tail almost dragging on the ground, and he was a little hunched over, refusing to look at her. It finally hit her just how selfish she'd been to flee and leave him to deal with her reaction earlier.

“I’m sorry, Ladybug,” he apologized sadly.

“Kitty, it’s okay,” Ladybug said gently, reaching up to ruffle his wild blond hair. She focused firmly on Chat, knowing if she even let the thought of Adrien cross her mind, it would ruin her composure.

“I’m not mad at you. I wanted to talk about what happened earlier. I need to apologize.”

Chat looked up, ears perking towards her, and Ladybug gave him a lopsided smile. “I’m really sorry, I overreacted. I didn’t mean to hurt you. It’s just… it hurts to think of someone I care about only loving me as a superhero. It doesn’t feel real. That’s part of why I never responded to your flirting as Chat, even after I realized you were serious. I could never be with someone who only likes me as Ladybug. Ladybug is like… the airbrushed two dimensional version of myself, with most of the flaws glossed over.”

Chat frowned and began to protest, but stopped himself, taking a breath before he responded more slowly, “I’m sorry I made you feel like that. I hope you know, though, that I don’t love you because you save Paris and look great in magical spandex. I love you because you’re brave, and smart, and creative, and beautiful, and you are so passionate when you’re invested in something! I love that the first time I met you, you were so terrified you looked like you were going to be sick, but you fought anyway because people needed you, and even though being a superhero is hard, and tiring, and sometimes really scary, you keep showing up because you could never just sit by if someone needed help. It’s not the suit, LB, it’s you.”

Ladybug looked away and nodded, thinking about what he said, before turning back to him. “I hear you. Actually, I’m kind of surprised that you’re not mad at me for suddenly being interested once I found out who you are.”

Chat blinked, staring at her. “You mean you thought I’d assume you’d only want me for my money and prestige, or how good I look in a swim suit?” he asked, striking a melodramatic pose and smirking.

Ladybug’s cheeks flushed, and she nodded. Chat smiled at her, taking one of her hands. “I know you better than that, Bugaboo. While I am curious about why you seem to like Adrien more than Chat, and I won’t lie and say that doesn’t hurt a little, I know you’re not shallow. I trust that you have good reasons.”

Ladybug squeezed his hand and shook her head. “It’s not that I love Adrien more than Chat. It’s that…” she took a deep breath, realizing she was going to have to be more honest than she was comfortable with, because Chat deserved the truth at this point. “It’s that Adrien was the boy. The one that I’m in love with. I could never look at Chat that way, because I saw Adrien that way first. Knowing that Chat is Adrien, though… it makes me love you so much more.”

She held her breath while a huge smile slowly stole over Chat’s face. He leaned in towards her lips, clearly about to kiss her, and she quickly lifted her finger, trying not to think about the fact that she was touching Adrien’s lips to keep him from kissing her. He stared at her, confused, and she sighed.

“I feel like I finally see you, at least more than before… but it makes me realize I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did, and also… you still don’t see me. And maybe that’s my fault, but I can’t be with you until I feel like you do.”

“Are you going to tell me who you are?” he asked, sounding excited. “I thought it was too dangerous.” 

Ladybug shook her head. “No kitty, I’m not going to tell you who I am. And we’re not going to date as Ladybug and Chat Noir so you can get to know me. I’m going to ask you to do something much more difficult, something really, really unfair because I couldn’t manage it with you, but I have to ask anyway because it’s what I need.”

“What is it Milady? You know I’ll do anything for you,” Chat asserted, sincerity shining from his brilliant green cat eyes behind his black mask.

“I need you to see me. Not catch me de-transforming or follow me home or try to put together clues to figure out who I am, but really… see me. I need you to look beyond the mask. You keep saying you know who I am… but I need a sign that that’s true. It will probably take some time,” she said, looking away as a flush came over her cheeks, “You might have to ignore what you think you know, and I definitely need to try harder to let you see me, but that’s what I need, or I’m always going to wonder if what we have is real or just because Master Fu gave us both a Miraculous. I need to know if you can love all of me, and be able to trust that if I ever have to stop being Ladybug, you’ll still love me. If you can see me, see who I really am as a regular girl… you’ll know my name.”

\---------------------------------divergence from the short version---------------------------------------

Chat gazed at her for a minute, then nodded and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles before standing. He smiled at her, but then it turned into a full-on Chat smirk and he proclaimed, “Chat-enge accepted, Milady!” 

She shook her head, groaning, but then started to laugh. The puns might actually kill her, now that she knew who was making them. Chat’s ears perked up as he was caught off guard by her actually finding him funny, but he rolled with it, grinning and bowing before leaping away into the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien uses his brain and comes up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since most of the previous chapter was also in the short version, I'll post one more here to get the ball rolling! This story is completely written and all subsequent chapters will be posted within the next week or two (unless I get a lot of reader feedback and am overcome with the urge to edit - then, no promises!).

Adrien flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling for at least ten minutes while he reviewed his crazy day. Plagg was quiet, figuring he needed some space to process. Blowing out a breath, Adrien finally shoved himself off his bed and started dissecting Ladybug’s words. He knew she didn’t want him to logically work out who she was based off of clues… but all due respect to his lady, that was BS. This was too important for him to hope he guessed right based on what he was feeling. She’d essentially given him permission to look for her, so while he wasn’t going to cheat and follow her home or anything, he was definitely going to use his heart _and_ his brain to try to find her. Plus, he had fans throwing themselves at him all the time. It was not like he could trust that the next girl to show any interest in him would be Ladybug; the opposite was actually more likely. Besides, he’d thought he knew who Ladybug was a few times and he’d turned out to be wrong… 

Suddenly his eyes widened as his brain got stuck on that thought, and something LB had said… ‘Ignore what you think you know…’ His breath sped up as he suddenly started to wonder. A pair of shining dark pigtails and bright blue eyes swam through his mind. Knowing how upset his lady would be if he ever figured out her identity without her permission, most of the time he’d deliberately avoided speculating. But that one time, he’d been almost sure. There were so many things that would make sense, if it were true. What if… He raced around his room, grabbing things and laying them out on his bed, then stared at the collection as pieces started to click together. The blue hand-knitted cashmere scarf he’d gotten for his birthday, which he thought had come from his father but Nino had later let slip had actually been from Marinette. The lucky charm, whose mate he knew Marinette still had because he saw it in her purse occasionally, when they had a test she was worried about or for reasons he wasn’t privy too, because she had trouble talking to him. The anonymous love note he’d received one Valentine’s Day and thought was from Ladybug, answering a poem he’d crumpled and thrown away in the trashcan at school. The black beret that Ladybug had delivered to him, beautifully hand-knitted with colors that perfectly matched a striped shirt he often wore to school and embroidered with hearts. A picture of Marinette from the video they’d done with Clara Nightingale, where she’d worn a ladybug mask. He tore a sheet out of his notebook and quickly wrote down less tangible thoughts about Marinette and Ladybug, as they came to him. The fact that Marinette had never been Akumatized. The time Marinette had gone on a date with Evillustrator and Ladybug had had a mysterious secret mission she’d never explained. The fact that Ladybug’s Kwami had been at his high school and Marinette had snuck out of the room when Ms. Mendeliev showed the picture of the Kwamis on the game show. The fact that Ladybug had showed up to battles at his school at least a few times suspiciously quickly, as well as that time at Chloe’s party… The fact that Marinette had seen through Lila almost immediately, even though every other person in his class had been fooled. The fact that Ladybug’s earrings had somehow ended up in the pile of belongings near his father’s overturned car when Reflekdoll attacked, right after a photo shoot he’d done with Marinette, where she’d removed the earrings he’d never seen her take off otherwise… The fact that Ladybug had been in New York at the same time that his class had gone on that trip for Friendship Week. The fact that even though Marinette almost always seemed nervous around him, to the point that she started stuttering and spouting gibberish, she’d repeatedly stuck up for him and always went the extra mile to be sure he was included in activities with his friends. He thought about Marinette for a minute, how she was so brave, smart, kind, creative, beautiful, and passionate…

Adrien sat down hard in his chair. “I even called her our everyday Ladybug…” he groaned, thumping his head on the desk and feeling like a total idiot. There were still a few things that didn’t make sense, like the time he’d seen Marinette and Ladybug side by side, but… wait, Multi-mouse had been wearing all of the Miraculous. He knew how draining it was to wield even two; his time with the unified cat and snake, even the few minutes he’d used them, had made him feel like he needed to sleep for a week. How could he have believed that Marinette, as a regular girl who as far as he knew had never even used one Miraculous before that day, was somehow able to wear them all and be fine? And of course, if she’d had them all, that meant she’d presumably had the Fox… Whose power was illusion… he face-palmed in exasperation. That beautiful, amazing, clever girl! Of course, it had been her the whole time. His eyes widened again as he recalled how upset Marinette had been this afternoon, and replayed their conversation in his head. He thought about the pictures of him that covered the walls of her room, the scarf, the beret embroidered with hearts, the way she always acted so uncomfortable around him and _no one else_ but still seemed to go out of her way to stick up for him, the compliments she sometimes spouted at him when she was nervous, the way they’d danced in the moonlight… and blushed as his mouth dropped open.

“I’m the boy,” he breathed, feeling totally thunderstruck. “She loves _me_. She’s loved me the whole time! Oh Kwamis…”

Plagg floated over and patted his shoulder. Adrien turned to him as he had another realization. “So… when you called her Pigtails, and teased me by calling her my girlfriend… Were you laughing at my stupidity, or trying to help?”

Plagg winked at him and shrugged, grinning. “I’m no Ladybug, but I can multi-task.”

Adrien shook his head, and stood up to pace. After a while he frowned, and looked questioningly at Plagg. “Is she really that insecure?”

Plagg quirked an eyebrow and stuffed some Camembert in his mouth. Adrien rolled his eyes and expounded. “She’s always acted weird around me… because she likes me. She was nervous. Why would she think I didn’t like her, though? She’s so smart, and creative, and nice, and pretty, and talented… How could she possibly be that insecure?”

“Well,” Plagg pointed out judiciously, “If you’d found out about her crush before you knew she was Ladybug, you would have turned her down if she’d asked you out, right?”

Adrien stared at him, his heart suddenly hurting, before nodding reluctantly. Plagg continued, “And you’re known her for years, but you’ve never asked her out or given her any indication you think of Marinette as more than a friend… In fact you call her that pretty much every time you see her…”

Suddenly, Adrien’s eyes widened and he sank down to the ground, pulling his hair. “Oh my God, I asked her for advice about dating Kagami…” he moaned, feeling absolutely mortified. “I take it back, it’s a miracle she doesn’t completely hate me…”

Plagg smirked and giggled, but then pointed out, “To be fair, she turned you down repeatedly as Chat because she was in love with civilian you.”

Adrien sighed and clutched his head. “This is such a mess. How do I fix this?”

Plagg squinted at him and suggested, “Actually, I think you took the first step today.” Adrien glanced up at him questioningly, and he elaborated, “When you talked to Marinette. If you want to make her feel like you know her, you probably need to spend some time really getting to know her. You need to convince her that you love her because she’s Marinette, not just because she’s Ladybug. I can kind of see Pigtails’ point, although she was way too hard on you.”

“I’d like to,” Adrien frowned thoughtfully, “but it’s really hard. Not just because with my schedule it’s difficult to spend time with her, but also because she can barely talk to me. I think today is the longest conversation we’ve ever had, and normally it’s really hard to talk to her because she gets so nervous around me. I mean, there are times when I was sure she hated me, because she’d see me coming and run, or babble about not liking me…”

Plagg rubbed his chin and suggested, “I think that might change now that she knows who you are. After all, she trusts Chat Noir with her life. It may be easier for her to talk to you now. It did seem to help today.”

Adrien nodded, remembering how she’d been able to talk to him normally, even though she was upset. A few days ago, she would have been a flushing incoherent mess if he’d put his arm around her. He smiled a little, one part pleased that he had such an effect on his lady, but mostly sad that he made her so nervous as Adrien. He hoped Plagg was right.

“I guess she’s right,” he finally responded. “It might take some time. But I’ll find a way to convince her that I love her.”

Plagg stared at him with an uncharacteristically serious expression, and asked, “So you do love Marinette? Not just Ladybug?”

Adrien nodded. “Knowing she’s Marinette just makes me love her more. I think she’s right, though. There’s a lot we still don’t know about each other. Ladybug always has so many walls up, and Marinette and I don’t talk that much. I just need to find a way to spend more time with her, so she can feel like she knows who I really am, and I can get to know her better. I want to know everything about her,” he sighed, hearts in his soft green eyes as Plagg pretended to gag.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette makes an effort, and Adrien stands up for his partner. Marinette and Tikki have an important conversation, and Marinette finally begins to realize that her crush isn’t hopeless after all.

Alya and Nino were mystified the next morning when Marinette casually walked up to Adrien and said good morning to him, and he got up to give her a quick hug.

“Good morning, Marinette,” he said, winking at her. “I see you got your beauty sleep last night. Feeling better?”

Marinette eyed him strangely but then laughed. “Yeah, I think I am. Thanks again for talking to me; it really helped.”

“At your service,” he replied playfully, bowing over her hand. She shook her head, then went to sit down, casually reaching over to close Alya’s mouth where it had dropped open. 

Luckily before Alya could recover and start interrogating her, Ms. Bustier started class. Alya kept trying to pass her notes, and pulled her away at lunch to demand answers, but all she could really say was that she’d realized she needed to work on her friendship with Adrien, because he was never going to like her if she couldn’t hold a coherent conversation with him. She emphatically told Alya that she was absolutely not going to ask him out anymore, though, or try to confess her feelings. She was going to concentrate on being a good friend, and if Adrien decided he wanted more than that later, she was going to leave that ball in his court. She was done throwing herself at him (or trying to, anyway).

She did notice that Adrien seemed to be paying more attention to her during the rest of the week, which tracked with how kind and concerned he was for his friends – she’d probably worried him with how sad she’d been. They didn’t interact much because of his crazy schedule, but she was able to sit with him and Alya and Nino at lunch most days and carry on a normal conversation, as opposed to her usual nervous near-silence. Surprisingly, Adrien got to stay for lunch every day but Thursday, when he had a photo-shoot, and she found it a nice change of pace to hang out with him without the pressure of obsessing about her feelings. Every once in a while, it was true, she’d backslide when he smiled at her or said something sweet, but she found that closing her eyes for a second and envisioning her partner in his place made the awkwardness pass so quickly it was mostly not noticeable. 

There was one thing, though, that made the week really stand out to her. Marinette slowly realized over the course of the week that Adrien had apparently decided he’d had enough of Chloe and Lila being mean to her. It started with little things, Adrien throwing out sweet, thoughtful compliments to Marinette to counter nasty remarks by the bullies, and his subtly dodging Lila’s or Chloe’s attempts to drag him away when he was talking with Marinette and his friends. At first Marinette thought she was imagining things, because he was so nice about it that it wasn’t really obvious whether he was doing it deliberately. However, it all came to a head on Friday, in a way she couldn’t ignore or dismiss. Chloe tripped Marinette on her way to her seat before class. Marinette and Adrien had been greeting each other, and Chloe pushed her backpack out into the walkway just in time for Marinette to catch her foot on it and go flying. What Chloe clearly hadn’t counted on, however, was Adrien’s excellent reflexes. He immediately lunged out of his seat in a way that would have made his fencing instructor proud, throwing out his arms and cradling Marinette before she could hit the stairs. 

He stood her up carefully and asked, “Are you all right?” checking her over in concern to make sure she hadn’t hurt herself. She blushed under his scrutiny but nodded.

“Thanks A-A-Adrien,” she stuttered a little, smiling shyly at him with an expression on her face that made his stomach fill with butterflies. 

He smiled back at her and bowed melodramatically, pressing a small kiss to her knuckles and replying, “At your service, Princess!”

Marinette giggled, wishing she could tease him that his Chat was showing. He grinned at her and escorted her showily to her seat, making a production of ensuring she was comfortably and safely seated in her chair before turning to Chloe with an expression that was suddenly… surprisingly stern. The class stared; only one of them had ever been the recipient of such a look before from Adrien, not that Lila was about to relate that to anyone.

“Chloe,” Adrien said in a surprisingly menacing tone of voice that made an involuntary shiver run down Chloe’s spine, “I think you owe Marinette an apology.”

Chloe scowled at him and exclaimed, “What? Moi? Apologize to _Dupain-Cheng_? Ugh, I think she owes me an apology, her cheap dirty knock-off shoe touched my Hermès bag. I should make her buy me a new one!”

Adrien approached to loom over her chair. “Chloe Dauphine Bourgeois, you could have seriously hurt Marinette. That is not okay. You need to apologize to her right now for tripping her or I will call your mother!”

The spoiled blond gasped, electric blue eyes wide with the beginnings of hurt betrayal. “You wouldn’t!” 

“Try me,” he growled, pulling out his phone. “You know she’ll listen to me.”

Chloe closed her eyes, sure that Adrien was right. Audrey Bourgeois and Emilie Agreste had been good friends before Emilie disappeared, and Audrey would definitely listen if her godson called her out of the blue and said Chloe had been mistreating one of his friends.

“Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” she exclaimed, angrily, but turned to Marinette and muttered ungraciously, “I’m sorry you’re so hideously clumsy that you tripped over my bag, _Dupain-Cheng_.”

Adrien cleared his throat and waved his phone meaningfully. Chloe glared daggers at him for a minute, but then capitulated and enunciated civilly, “I’m sorry I tripped you, Marinette.” She glanced back at Adrien pointedly and watched him put his phone away, then rolled her eyes, grabbed her bag, and stalked out muttering to herself just as Ms. Bustier entered the classroom. The teacher called after her to return, but they could all hear Chloe respond “Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!” her voice growing fainter as she continued to walk away.

Alya watched the whole thing with her mouth open before congratulating Adrien softly, “Way to go, Sunshine! I really didn’t think you had it in you!”

Adrien turned a bit, smiled and shrugged, answering softly, “Ladybug made me realize it’s important to stand up for the people you care about.”

Marinette flushed, glancing down to doodle in her notebook so she wouldn’t have to catch his eye, but there was a small smile on her lips.

Of course, five minutes later the Akuma alert went off and Chat and Ladybug had to sneak out of class to fight a spiteful, Akumatized version of Chloe with the power to make everyone super clumsy, which sucked, but Marinette considered that totally worth it. She was shocked that Adrien had stood up for her, it seemed very out of character even knowing he was Chat, but she was glad he finally seemed to be paying more attention to the atrocious behavior of his friend and the effect it had on everyone else. 

Later that day, she had another, even more shocking opportunity to see the ‘new Adrien’ in action. She was sitting in class after lunch, waiting for the teacher while chatting with Alya, when Lila ran into the classroom in tears, dramatically waving a crumpled, torn piece of paper. A few of their classmates surrounded the tall, pretty Italian girl immediately, cooing in sympathy and asking what happened, and Lila gasped, “Marinette tore up my…” she hiccupped loudly, “my homework! I was telling her how excited I was for my date with Adrien this weekend, and suddenly she just grabbed it out of my hand! Then she ripped it up, threw it away, and stormed off! I just don’t know why she h-h-hates me!” she wailed, glaring accusingly at Marinette while flicking her heavy brown ponytail over her shoulder dramatically. 

Marinette was about to splutter an indignant response when she saw Adrien walk up behind Lila from where he’d been standing in the doorway with arms crossed and an increasingly stormy expression on his face.

“Excuse me,” he interrupted in the surprisingly loud and authoritative tone of voice she recognized from earlier that morning, and the room immediately grew quiet except for Lila’s increasingly fake-sounding sobs. Marinette’s eyebrows winged up as she placed it, realizing Adrien must be channeling his inner Gabriel. “First, we are not dating. I’ve never been on a date with you, and I will never go on a date with you, because I don’t want to, as I’ve told you repeatedly. I would appreciate it if you would stop lying to people about dating me. When you lie about being my girlfriend, it embarrasses me, it confuses people I care about, and it generates a lot of media attention I’d prefer to avoid. When I do get a girlfriend,” he paused, glancing quickly at Marinette and making her blush, before turning back to Lila, “I will be happy to deal with that, but for now it’s just more stress for no reason.”

Lila looked up at him with wide peridot eyes, her lip trembling in a mute plea for sympathy, but everyone seemed very reluctant to interrupt Adrien, and he continued before she could respond.

“Second, Marinette couldn’t possibly have torn up your homework, since I just watched _you_ mutilate that paper, pinch yourself, and start crying before you ran into the classroom.” He grimaced distastefully as he grabbed her arm and held it up to show an angry red spot near the inside of her elbow.

There were gasps around the room as some of her classmates turned to glare accusingly at Lila, including Alya. Marinette couldn’t help the small warm flame it lit in her chest as her best friend shot her an apologetic glance before turning back to glare at Lila again, inching closer to Marinette defensively.

“Third,” Adrien continued sternly, “This behavior is unbecoming of a Gabriel employee. I gave you a second chance, Lila; this is not how I want to see you use it. I expect better behavior in the future, if you would like to continue to model with me.”

Lila sneered maliciously up at him, provoking more gasps from their classmates that she seemed not to notice. “Do you really think your father will take your word over mine?” she asked provocatively. “After all, I’ve been so helpful in letting him know about all of the _disruptive_ influences in your life lately.” She gave an evil laugh that had Marinette widening her eyes in sudden worry for her kitty. “Why, I bet if I murmur the right words in his ear, you might not get to come back to school… at all.”

At that, the class exploded in outrage, and Lila seemed to remember they had an audience. She turned wide-eyed to try and make some excuse, but no one could even hear her talk over all the angry yelling. Finally, it was stopped by a loud whistle.

Marinette took her fingers out of her mouth and stomped down to the front of the classroom, glaring at Lila the whole time. “That is enough, Lila! You do not get to threaten Adrien! He’s right, you need to stop this behavior!”

Lila sneered at her, “What, upset that I might hurt your _crush_?” she asked tauntingly.

Marinette scowled at her, which seemed to take her aback since it wasn’t the cringing, humiliated reaction she’d been expecting. “No, I’m upset that you’re threatening my friend!”

“So what?” Lila taunted, grinning evilly at her. “It’s not like you can do anything about it. One word from me to his father, and he’s done.”

Marinette took a deep breath to calm the raging anger burning inside her, mindful that she couldn’t afford to get Akumatized. “We will stand up for our friend,” she said, gesturing to the class, all of whom started nodding emphatically. “We won’t let Adrien’s father pull him out of school because of you. There’s no way he’ll believe you over all of us.”

Lila laughed incredulously, sneering at her. “You really don’t get it, do you? I’ve been badmouthing you for _months_. He thinks you’re a bunch of losers. Of course he’ll believe me.”

Alya came to stand next to Marinette, holding up her phone showing she was still recording. “Not after he sees this, Lie-lie. You try anything, and we’ll go to Gabriel and tell him you were threatening his son. Somehow, I don’t think he’ll be listening to anything you have to say after that.”

Lila gasped, glaring from Adrien to Marinette to Alya, before suddenly wailing and running out of the room. Everyone cheered, and Marinette smiled a little before glancing at Adrien. He was staring at her intensely with an expression that reminded her of what had just happened, which was… not good for her self-control. Assertive, confident Adrien Agreste standing up for her made her want to find the nearest supply closet, pull him inside, tell him she was Ladybug, and do things to him that would make Tikki blush.

Luckily the reminder that she’d have to tell him she was Ladybug before he’d want her to do any of those things doused cold water on her suddenly lurid imagination, and she shook her head, giving him another smile.

“Thanks Adrien, that was really brave,” she offered sincerely. 

“Of course,” he smiled, before running a hand over his face and frowning. He suddenly exclaimed angrily, “She’s been spying on me for my father for months… God that’s creepy… Is he really so paranoid that he’d talk to some random high school girl in private to get information about me? Geez, I hope Nathalie was there at least, otherwise that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen! Ugh, what was he thinking?!?”

Turning to Alya, he asked, “Can I have a copy of that recording, please? I know you said you wouldn’t use it against her, but you didn’t promise not to share it. I need to have a conversation with my father. Hearing that will hopefully be a good enough reason to ban her from ever visiting my house again. Hopefully it will also be enough ammunition to get her fired, or at least convince him to stop making me model with her. I’m so tired of her groping me on set,” he said, shuddering a little while Alya’s face twisted with guilt. How had she never realized Adrien didn’t want Lila hanging all over him?

Alya nodded remorsefully and quickly fiddled with her phone. “Sure... Sent! Good luck, Sunshine. That’s one talk I don’t envy you having. Let us know if you need some moral support – we’d be happy to back you up if you think it will help.”

Adrien smiled ruefully. “That would probably make it worse, knowing my father, but thanks anyway.”

Marinette frowned, looking sideways at Adrien as something Lila said echoed in her head. “What did you mean,” she asked slowly, “You gave her a second chance?”

Adrien blushed and glanced down, confessing quietly, “I bribed her to take back her accusations and get you back into school when you were expelled. I knew she was lying, but I couldn’t prove it and Mr. Damocles wouldn’t listen to me, so I did the only thing I could think of to fix it.”

“How? What did you offer her?” Marinette demanded, sounding outraged on his behalf. He peaked at her from under his eyelashes as he admitted sheepishly, blushing, “My friendship. She wanted to keep modeling with me and… being my friend, and stuff. She really liked the media attention and opportunities that come with being publicly associated with me. So I said I’d let her, as long as she agreed to get your expulsion reversed and leave you alone.”

Marinette suddenly threw herself at him, and he let out an ‘Ooof!’ as he caught her. She squeezed him tight and he saw a few tears drip down her cheeks. “You are the sweetest, kindest person I know,” she mumbled, snuggling him and giving him a smile that made his insides squirm pleasantly.

“Marinette, I care about you,” he breathed, cradling her against him like she was precious. “I’d never let someone hurt you if I could stop them. I’m just sorry I couldn’t do a better job keeping her away from you.”

Marinette shook her head and pulled his face down to kiss his cheek. “My hero,” she said, smiling at him as her eyes gleamed for a second. He grinned back, enjoying the inside joke, even if she didn’t know he was in on it. She sighed. “I’m happy that you did that for me, but I also hate that you were going through that with her and I couldn’t help. You should never have had to do that.”

“I’d do anything for you, Marinette,” he breathed sincerely, caressing his thumb over her cheek and staring into her wide bluebell eyes in a way that made her cheeks flush darker as her breath caught in her throat. They stared into each other’s eyes until someone whistled (Kim, of course), and she started, jumping away from him. He smiled a little sadly at her, and they both went and sat down awkwardly just as the teacher walked in.

The rest of the day was kind of funny, with Alya furiously passing notes as she covertly debunked many of Lila’s lies while trying to pretend she was paying attention to the lectures. The rest of the class joined in at the period break, comparing notes and realizing that basically the only thing Lila hadn’t lied about was her name. Pretty much everything else fell into one of three categories, embellishments, ridiculous exaggerations, and outright lies. They were able to prove some of her medical conditions had been faked, since she wasn’t consistent about the ones she claimed. They even managed to confirm that she’d never actually left the country when she was supposedly traveling for charity earlier that year, at which point Alya announced that she was going to compile a dossier of all her lies after doing some more research and fact checking, and email it to the school board, the principal, and Lila’s mother. Rose, Juleka, Max, Nino, Alix, and Nathaniel volunteered to help, with Marinette and Adrien promising to provide her with an opportunity to interview each of them to add their accounts as well. Marinette’s friends felt terrible once they realized the extent to which they had been duped, and how they almost let their class president get expelled because they didn’t recognize how Lila was bullying her. Alya swore she was going to make sure that Lila was held accountable for her actions. 

Marinette walked home in a bit of a daze and climbed up to her loft, sprawling on her bed and staring at her Kwami.

“Tikki,” she breathed, “Do you think he knows?”

Tikki shrugged. “What do you think, Marinette?”

Marinette frowned, but then slowly shook her head. “I’m not sure, but I… don’t think so. If Chat knew who I was, I’d expect to find dozens of roses on my balcony, surprises in my locker, big romantic gestures at school… I’d expect him to be flirting with me constantly. Chat hasn’t shown any restraint around Ladybug so far. It’s hard to imagine him holding back if he knew who I was. Unless he figured it out and was disappointed. But that wouldn’t explain what he did today, either.”

Tikki mulled that over and nodded, but asked, “Does the fact that he’s also Adrien change that perception, though?”

Marinette blew out a breath and shrugged, wiggling a hand to indicate her uncertainty. “That’s why I’m not sure. He acts so different when he’s not wearing the mask, it’s making me less certain about how he’d respond and what he’d do. Adrien is a lot more self-contained than Chat, maybe a little less likely to leap before he looks.”

Marinette sighed, a little exasperated, “Honestly, Tikki, this is exactly what I mean, though. Finding out he’s Adrien made me realize, it’s not just that Chat doesn’t know the real me, I also don’t know him as well as I thought. He’s clearly a lot more complicated than I assumed from the way he acts as Chat. While some things make a lot more sense now, there are still things I feel like I’m missing.”

Tikki nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right, it’s interesting that Chat and Adrien act so different. Maybe when you get to know him better, that will make more sense.”

“Yeah… but oh Tikki, when he stood up to Lila like that for me…” Marinette sighed dreamily, closing her eyes with a blissful smile on her face. 

Tikki grinned and giggled. “That was pretty impressive. You know what caught my attention, though?”

Marinette opened up her eyes and blinked curiously at Tikki. She smiled at her holder and pointed out, “Lila got you expelled a while ago.”

Marinette’s eyes slowly lit up. “You’re right, Tikki! Even if he’s figured out who I am now, he didn’t know then. Chat wears his heart on his sleeve with Ladybug, there’s no way he would have been able to keep it from me that long if he knew who I was. Plus, that was back when he was sort of dating Kagami. I don’t think he would have done that if he knew who I was.”

Tikki shook her head. “No, I don’t think he would have been dating Kagami if he knew your identity. Chat’s been crazy about you for years, if he knew who you were he would have been trying to ask out Marinette, not Kagami.”

Marinette sighed again and closed her eyes, holding onto the small flame in her chest with the knowledge that Adrien would go to such lengths for Marinette, not just Ladybug. Maybe her crush wasn’t as hopeless as she’d thought, maybe someday he would see Marinette as more than just a friend. 

She decided she needed to relax and maybe take a nap for a few minutes before doing her homework. Marinette was honestly amazed that Lila hadn’t gotten Akumatized yet, but she wasn’t going to question her good fortune. Just as she dropped off to sleep, she felt a painful prick on her finger, followed by a hollow evil laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course, they're in Paris, which means standing up to bullies often has unexpected consequences... Or, realizing the fear Adrien verbalized in the show =)
> 
> LOL I probably shouldn't say this since I hope you'll read the rest of this story, but this was definitely my favorite chapter to write (although the last one was pretty fun too)! I really, really hope that at some point on the show, Adrien grows more of a spine out of the mask... sigh.
> 
> And yes, in case you're wondering, it was very deliberate that Adrien says that he cares about Marinette here, rather than that they are friends.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien confronts his father about Lila, and Chat Noir gets creative to deal with a tricky Akuma.

Adrien rode home in a daze after fencing, where he’d been so distracted that Kagami refused to spar with him, suggesting he go practice forms instead while he worked out whatever was bothering him. He was torn between agonizing over the gross idea that his father had been meeting secretly with Lila for months so she could spew lies to him about Adrien’s friends, and the feeling of Marinette’s soft warm hands cradling his face as her soft lips kissed his cheek, her beautiful luminous eyes filled with happiness, gratitude, and admiration. It was a heady mix that made him want to do stupid things like order a hundred white and red roses and sneak them up to her balcony to surprise her. He sighed, frustrated by the conviction that if he didn’t firmly squash his inner romantic, he’d screw this up. Hopefully he’d made some progress today, but he wasn’t going to fool himself that it was enough to overcome all of her insecurities and his past mistakes in one fell swoop and convince her that he truly loved her. He recognized that she was the same girl he loved in and out of the mask, at least with everyone but Adrien (because he made her nervous, because she loved him!), but he was going to have to prove it to her until she believed it too. He was going to have to be patient, and let her come to that realization when she was ready. In the meantime, maybe he should just start keeping a list of all the ways he was going to spoil his princess once she was finally ready to let him.

At least he could be secure in the knowledge that her feelings for him weren’t shallow. He wouldn’t have believed it of Ladybug anyway, she wasn’t that kind of girl, but knowing she was Marinette, her feelings made sense. Granted, she had trouble talking to him, and certainly didn’t know everything about him, but they’d shared enough real moments to provide a foundation they could build on. And while he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t at all disappointed that she’d fallen for his more reserved façade, he recognized that the freedom of being Chat tended to go to his head and that at times, his flirting was probably over the top and made it difficult for her to take him seriously. Honestly, though his feelings were real, it had also been a bit of a game to him, teasing and flirting with Ladybug - something fun to look forward to outside the confines of his sterile, predictable life. The puns, the annoying nicknames, the flirting… to some extent, it had been his version of school yard flirting, the boy pulling the girl’s pigtails and hoping she’d chase him because it was fun. The moment he’d realized Ladybug was Marinette, though, he’d also realized he was going to have to be more serious about her if he had any hope of winning her. It had suddenly become real in a way that it wasn’t before, and he wasn’t going to mess it up by being stupid or impatient. Marinette deserved better; she deserved his best, always.

When he got home, Nathalie was waiting in the foyer to let him know his father was busy, and he’d be dining alone again.

He looked at her and said, “No.”

She glanced up from her tablet quizzically.

“No, that is not acceptable. I need to speak with my father.” 

Nathalie frowned, and said, “Adrien, you know if you want to talk to him I need to make an appointment in advance. Your father is very busy.”

Adrien stared at her, feeling the flames from his earlier defiance, and the look in Marinette’s eyes, give him unexpected courage. “Do you hear yourself right now? Tell me you realize how dysfunctional that sounds!” he demanded, staring her down even though his hands were starting to sweat. She swallowed and glanced away before seeming to collect herself.

“Adrien, I don’t make the rules, your father does.”

Adrien nodded. “Yes, well, as convenient as that normally is for him, I need to speak to him. Now.”

Nathalie frowned at him, but shrugged as if to say ‘your funeral’ and walked up the stairs into Gabriel’s office. Less than a minute later, she came out and walked back down to him, shaking her head. “I’m sorry Adrien, your father is busy right now and can’t be disturbed.”

“That’s unacceptable,” Adrien replied, shrugging, and started walking up the stairs. Nathalie called after him, but he didn’t stop, instead walking into his father’s office without knocking.

Gabriel looked up from behind his desk and scowled. “Adrien, what is the meaning of this?” he demanded crossly.

Adrien eyed him and responded evenly, “I found out you’ve been having Lila spy on me at school.”

Gabriel blinked but then frowned, covering so quickly that if Adrien hadn’t heard her admit it this afternoon, he might have bought the act and backed down. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

Adrien raised a blond eyebrow mockingly, working to push down his anger and stay calm. “Really? She admitted it in front of my whole class and used it to try to blackmail me. I have the recording if you’d like to see…”

Gabriel blanched. “She what?!?”

Adrien nodded. “She claimed we were dating, which I denied because I would _never_ date her, then tried to get one of my good friends in trouble for something she definitely didn’t do. When I intervened, Lila blackmailed me to try to get me to back off. Then she threatened to come talk to you and get me pulled out of school because I wasn’t doing what she wanted, and apparently she thinks she can ‘murmur in your ear’ and you’ll believe whatever she says instead of listening to me.” An expression of intense disgust passing over his features at the last part of this statement, Adrien stared at his father, crossing his arms.

Gabriel sighed, taking his glasses off to wipe them. Adrien, familiar with this delaying tactic, merely waited impassively, hiding his shaking hands with his folded arms. Finally, Gabriel put his glasses back on and stared at his son as an unfamiliar expression (remorse?) flitted briefly across his face. “Adrien… Perhaps you are right, it appears it was a lapse of judgement to try to gain information about you from someone I thought was your friend.” 

Adrien desperately tried to maintain his appearance of calm, while inwardly he was shouting in amazement. He couldn’t actually remember the last time his father had admitted he was wrong about _anything_! It had definitely been before his mother disappeared, though.

“I owe you an apology, son. I’m sorry.” Gabriel got up from his desk and offered his hand. Adrien stared at it for a minute, feeling a little sick, before he tentatively reached out and hugged his father. Gabriel stiffened, but returned the hug briefly before letting go and retreating quickly back behind his desk.

“Nathalie,” he requested, shooting a quick look around Adrien to his assistant hovering uncertainly in the doorway. “Please take the necessary steps to terminate Lila Rossi’s modeling contract, and whatever is necessary to distance us appropriately from any… possible fallout. If she sues, please let her know we’d be happy to sue her in return for slander and harassment, since she was apparently claiming a false relationship with my son. It appears Ms. Rossi is not the positive influence on Adrien that she led us to believe.”

Nathalie nodded and left. Gabriel looked back at Adrien, clearly waiting for him to leave now that the situation had been resolved. Adrien swallowed, less certain about what he was about to ask but knowing he needed to try. “Thank you, father.”

Gabriel nodded, starting to look a little impatient. Adrien took a breath and tried to keep his voice calm, hoping his father couldn’t tell how important this was. “Father, would it be possible to extend an invitation to Marinette Dupain-Cheng to attend some of my modeling shoots? She’s also been a victim of Lila. I found out Lila has been targeting her in large part because Lila wanted to keep her away from me out of jealousy. I know I’m not responsible for Lila’s actions, but I do feel partly responsible for putting Marinette in Lila’s crosshairs in the first place, and I would like to make it up to her. She’s very interested in fashion design, and I think it would be helpful for her to get some early insight into the industry. She’s extremely talented; she’s won fashion contests, has done commissions for Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale, and makes a lot of her own clothes. It might be useful to give her a positive impression of the company now; she’s definitely the kind of person you’d want to recruit when she finishes school. I can vouch that she would behave herself.”

Gabriel frowned, considering, but then brightened a bit. “This is the girl in your class who designed the derby hat for our competition a couple years ago?”

Adrien nodded, smiling and hoping the fact that he remembered was a good sign.

Gabriel stroked his chin for a moment before nodding decisively. “That’s acceptable, Adrien. As long as she’s willing to sign the standard NDAs and doesn’t interfere with your work, you may extend the invitation. However, if I find out she’s distracting you or interfering, that invitation will be rescinded immediately.”

Adrien nodded happily, not put off by the warning; for Gabriel, that was equivalent to a strong vote of approval for Marinette. He’d honestly not expected his request to be received this well. He smiled and said, “Thank you, father!” before quickly exiting the office, not wanting to linger and give Gabriel time to change his mind.

Adrien ran to his room after letting Nathalie know that his father had said Marinette could attend his shoots, since she’d have to organize the paperwork. He did a happy dance once he finally closed the door, Plagg giving him a tiny high-five before going off in search of more cheese.

He sat down to compose a text message to Marinette, but nothing struck quite the right tone. He’d just resigned himself to the realization that he’d either have to call her or wait till school to tell her the (hopefully) good news when the Akuma alert went off on his phone.

He pulled up the news on his flat screen and gasped as a leaden feeling of dread filled his stomach. The Dupain-Cheng bakery was entirely covered in vines, and a dragon perched on top, roaring. “Oh man, I really hate dragons,” he moaned. He wondered briefly if this was some new version of Weredad, but it sure didn’t seem like it. He quickly called his transformation and shot out through the window, making it to Marinette’s in record time.

Crouching on a rooftop across the way, he eyed the dragon guarding the vine-covered tower, and idly wondered if Hawk Moth was rich enough to fend off the copyright lawsuits that were probably being drawn up right this moment. He wanted more than anything to know if Marinette was inside, but he knew he had to be smart; if Marinette was trapped in there unable to transform or escape, he might be their only hope to win the fight. 

The Akuma roared again, then spoke. “Apparently, Princess Marinette needs her beauty sleep! Well, now, she’ll sleep forever, and so will anyone dumb enough to try to come rescue her! Ladybug and Chat Noir, I can’t wait to see you try to defeat me now. I am the Sorceress, and I’ll roast you alive!” She blew a great gout of fire into the sky, and Chat suddenly had a good guess as to who the latest Akuma was. He would normally say victim, but he doubted that applied in Lila’s case. He ground his teeth, wondering what he was going to do if Marinette really was asleep in her room, even as he felt some relief that she was just sleeping. Out of all the nasty Akumas they’d seen, honestly it could have been worse. Besides, he’d seen this fairy tale before, right? He pondered the beginnings of an idea coming to him.

Observing the vines, he saw that they were quickly covering more ground, expanding out from the bakery and invading the streets and nearby buildings. He watched as anyone they touched immediately fell into a deep sleep. He looked closer, antsy to burst into action but realizing he needed to be twice as careful since Marinette was counting on him. He noticed that the people only fell asleep when the vines touched their skin, not their clothing, and that they seemed to have no other ill effects. He smiled, suddenly feeling more confident.

Chat Noir leaped down from the building, running quickly on top of the vines towards the bakery. It was tricky to keep his balance on the growing, twisting vines, but luckily the balance and coordination of the Cat Miraculous augmenting his normal abilities was more than equal to the task. He dodged as a vine headed straight for his face, appreciating the fact that his costume covered everything except his head and neck. 

Suddenly, he felt a tingling in the back of his head and whipped to the side just in time to avoid a vine that had tried to grab him from behind. He jumped as tendrils curled around his feet, realizing that he had to keep moving or the vines were going to snag him. With a burst of speed, he reached the bakery and used his baton to lever himself up to the balcony, but just as he reached it, a vine shot out straight at his face. He yowled and swung to the side, but then had to readjust as the vines down below knocked his baton out from under him. He quickly recovered and made it to the building across the roof, but now he had the attention of the Sorceress. He ducked as a large fireball came his way, then did a barrel roll the other way to avoid another one. He started to run away, and the Sorceress took off to follow him.

He smiled at the irony a bit, realizing he was about to play a very intense game of cat and mouse. He led the dragon on a chase over the rooftops, thankful that after years of patrols, he knew Paris better than the taxi drivers. Finally, he reached the area he’d chosen, put on a burst of speed, and dropped down into an alley. He heard the dragon roar as he pulled the manhole cover over himself. Waiting a minute, he confirmed that she clearly hadn’t seen where he went, then he turned and ran.

A few minutes later, using the map of the sewers on his baton, he was able to confirm that he was close to the bakery. Sticking his baton up through a small hole in a sewer grate, he was happy to see that the dragon hadn’t made it back to the bakery yet. Hopefully she’d waste a few more minutes looking for him, buying him time to reach Marinette.

Climbing out of the sewer, he immediately went back to dodging the vines, which were encroaching into the surrounding streets more every minute. However, without the fire-breathing dragon to deter him, he could avoid the grabbing vines and made it to the balcony in one piece. He cataclysmed the vines around Marinette’s skylight, then dropped through and closed it after him. 

His breath caught as he saw her lying peacefully on her bed. He lifted up her hand and watched it drop limply, making sure she was really asleep, then de-transformed, not wanting to be on a five minute timer when he went back out there to fight since he’d used his special ability. He fed a surprisingly quiet Plagg from the stash of cheese in his pocket, then retransformed. After the green light washed over him, Chat knelt down by Marinette. Letting out a deep breath and praying fervently that this would work, he leaned over and pressed a sweet, lingering kiss to her soft pink lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette has an important revelation

Marinette opened her eyes and stared, confused about why her partner was in her bedroom. She frowned, glancing around, and Chat rubbed the back of his neck but smiled softly at her.

“Marinette, right? I’m sorry to barge in like this, but Lila’s been Akumatized and she went after you. I need to get you to safety.”

“What did she do?” she asked, disoriented and confused.

Chat motioned towards the sky light a little desperately and answered, “It’s probably easier to just show you, and we really need to get out of here before she comes back or the vines block our escape again.”

Marinette sat up with no further urging but turned to see her purse on her chair. She made a sheepish face at him and promised, “Sorry, just a second.”

Running down the ladder, she grabbed her purse, relieved that her discrete check revealed Tikki had already hidden herself inside. She ran back up the ladder and Chat grabbed her, picking her up in his arms. She tried not to blush at the thought that _Adrien_ was carrying her against his chest. He peaked through the skylight cautiously, and then opened it quickly and vaulted out and away, maneuvering them to a rooftop a fair distance away before he put her down in the shadow of a large chimney. Marinette peaked out at the vines covering the bakery and sprawling out into the streets beyond, then stared as she watched a large purple dragon come barreling down out of the sky to land on top of her building. “Oh boy,” she breathed, wincing.

Chat chuckled a little grimly. “Don’t worry, Marinette. I won’t let her hurt you. Ladybug and I will save the day.”

Marinette looked at him and smiled. “Thanks Chat. You be careful too, okay?”

He nodded, and sprang away back towards the dragon. She could see him sneaking away towards the bakery, moving slower than normal and trying to stay low to the roofs to avoid giving away his approach. She blew out a breath and pulled back behind the chimney as Tikki flew out of her purse.

“Tikki, spots on!” she cried, rushing through her transformation sequence. She peaked out to make sure Chat wasn’t looking this direction, then leaped off the roof to one side, working her way to come in from a bit of a different direction. She arrived at the rooftop where Chat was hiding just as the dragon roared again, spitting fire into the sky.

“Ah,” she commented sadly, “I forgot my marshmallows!”

Chat smiled at her before turning back to keep an eye on the dragon. “Hey there LB. Thanks for joining the party.”

Ladybug nodded, “Any time, kitty. Cat-ch me up?”

Chat smirked at her but replied, “Stealing my lines, Bugaboo! The Akumatized person is Lila.”

Ladybug groaned in irritation. “Again?!?”

Chat nodded. “She’s calling herself the Sorceress. She was targeting Marinette, sounds like maybe out of jealousy over something. I haven’t seen her do anything besides breathe fire, and the vines will put you to sleep if they touch your skin.”

Ladybug frowned and help up her communicator, pulling up the camera and zooming in to try and get a better look at the dragon. “Any idea where the Akuma is?”

Chat shook his head. “I haven’t had a lot of time to study it. I lured it away earlier while I was waiting for you so I could rescue Marinette.”

Ladybug turned to gaze at Chat curiously. “How did you know she was in there?”

Chat turned grim eyes on the dragon and answered, “Lila was crowing about how she’d put her to sleep and was going to roast anyone who rescued her.”

“Put her to sleep?” Ladybug asked, eyebrows raising as Chat suddenly found the roof tiles fascinating. “How did you wake her up, then?”

Chat coughed and blushed, but then turned with a smirk and replied, “This cat has his secrets, Bugaboo. Maybe if you say ‘purr-ity please’, I’ll tell you some day.”

Ladybug frowned at him, wondering what he was hiding and trying to figure out how he’d broken the spell. Shrugging after a moment, she replied, “Anyway, good work, kitty. Let’s shut her down.”

Chat saluted and grinned before vaulting off the building, grabbing the Sorceress’ attention. He started vaulting around the bakery, taunting the dragon, while Ladybug snuck closer and tried to get a better look at it. Finally, she saw something shiny wrapped around one of the claws – she was pretty sure it was Lila’s fox pendant, which had been the Akumatized object for Lila in the past. She got Chat’s attention to come back towards her, and called her lucky charm. A small replica of the Fox flute fell into her palm, and a second later her skylight lit up along with the flute. She signaled to Chat to keep distracting the Sorceress, so she could sneak in and back out of her room again. Luckily the vines Chat had killed hadn’t grown back, so she could easily slip in to grab what she needed. Once she was a sufficient distance away again, she texted Chat to hide. As soon as he disappeared, the dragon roared and flew around in a frenzy, trying to find him. Ladybug quickly unified Trixx and Tikki, and used Illusion to create an image of Chat running out and tripping on the ground as vines wrapped around him. The dragon roared in victory and swooped down, claws out to grab him. When she touched the illusion, it vanished, and her outstretched paw touched a protruding vine. The villain immediately sank into a deep slumber, collapsing on the vines. Ladybug swung carefully down and extracted the necklace from her claws, breaking it to release the Akuma. She purified the butterfly and then called her Miraculous Ladybug cure. Chat ran over as the Ladybugs restored everything to normal, and offered his fist.

“Pound it!” they called, smiling at each other. Then they looked at Lila with twin expressions of irritation and distaste. She sneered at them and walked away, ignoring their half-hearted attempts to talk to her. Ladybug shook her head and said goodbye to Chat. He seemed distracted, only nodding before he vaulted away with a parting wave and smile.

Alya ran up just as Ladybug was about to leave. “Ladybug wait!” she cried, waving her phone up in the air to get her attention.

Ladybug turned around and approached her, a cautious expression on her face. She was curious what Alya would say about Lila being Akumatized again. Marinette was very hopeful that Alya had finally realized what a bad person Lila was in class earlier, but given how many times Lila had fooled Alya, she was still nervous to see if it would stick.

“Ladybug,” Alya asked hesitantly, “Can you confirm whether you and Lila Rossi know each other?”

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at Alya and said, “Since she’s been Akumatized so many times, I suppose you could say I’m fairly well acquainted with her at this point, yes.”

Alya frowned and clarified, “Can you confirm her claim that you are friends?”

Ladybug immediately shook her head and adopted a disappointed expression. “Alya, you’ve been following me and Chat for years; you know how important our secret identities are to us. My only friend as Ladybug is Chat Noir. I’d never endanger any civilian like that, but especially not the kind of person who is going to go bragging about it online! That would be incredibly dangerous, for her and for me. I wish you hadn’t posted your interview with her on your blog without checking with me first. As an aspiring journalist, it’s extremely important that you always verify your sources,” Ladybug couldn’t resist pointing out.

“However,” she softened, seeing the crushed look on her BFF’s face, “Now that you know the truth, I’m sure you’ll take steps to rectify the situation, and do better in the future. You clearly have such a passion for reporting; I bet I’ll see your face on the news one day!”

She waved at Alya, announcing, “Bug out!” and zipped off, taking a circuitous route that eventually brought her back to her balcony. She swung in through her skylight just as her mother called out for her. She clattered down the stairs and was enveloped in a big hug by her parents, who’d just seen news covering the attack. Apparently they’d been asleep the whole time, having been loading up the truck out back to make a delivery when Lila struck. 

She headed back up to her room and started her homework, but then swung around in her desk chair to frown at Tikki as it occurred to her there was one other person she could ask about how Chat had woken her up. “Tikki, what exactly happened after I fell asleep?”

Tikki looked down, and if she’d been human she totally would have been chewing her lip or fiddling with her hair, obviously trying to decide if she should tell her holder what had happened. Finally she looked back up at Marinette, meeting her eyes, and recounted what she’d observed. “You were falling asleep when suddenly Lila appeared in front of you holding a spindle. It had a sharp edge that she pushed against your finger, making you fall asleep. It disappeared right afterwards, and she climbed out the skylight. I didn’t see what happened after that, but I heard her roar, so she must have become a dragon. After a little while, Chat came in through the skylight. He de-transformed and fed Plagg, then re-transformed and kissed you. You woke up, and he rescued you.”

Marinette was sitting there with her mouth slightly open, digesting one particular part of that information. “He kissed me?” she whispered.

Tikki nodded.

“He kissed me… and it woke me up?”

Tikki nodded again, patiently.

“He kissed me… as Marinette,” she tried again.

Tikki smiled at her. Marinette made a small squeak and placed her fingers over her lips, wishing she could remember.

“What does that mean?!?” she demanded, pulling on a pigtail distractedly.

Tikki grinned at her. “You’re thinking of Dark Cupid, aren’t you?”

Marinette nodded, at a loss. Tikki shrugged and answered her, “It seems like he loves Marinette enough to think he could use true love’s kiss to break a sleeping spell.”

“Huh,” Marinette said. She stared at Tikki some more before finally asking again, “Do you think he knows?”

Tikki sighed and blinked at her, then asked gently, “Does it actually matter?”

Marinette frowned. Tikki elaborated patiently, “Either he has realized he loves Marinette, or he’s realized Marinette is Ladybug, and he truly loves you. I know you’d prefer the first answer, but is either really wrong? Either way, he truly loves you, not just Ladybug.”

Marinette felt her eyes well up. “I think you’re right, Tikki,” she said, smiling. “I need to think a little bit about what to do, but you’re right. He loves me!” she cried, joy shining in her eyes as they spilled over. She danced around her room, crying happy tears, as Tikki giggled. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette and Adrien both make an effort to stick to their resolutions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As Plagg would say, "Cheeeeeeese!" I love flirty Marinette ;)

The next morning, Adrien was surprised to see Marinette stroll up just as his bodyguard drove away in the car. “Woah,” he teased, grinning at her, “Look who’s on time for once.” She looked beautiful, her hair was down, and the smooth black tresses framed her face and made her gorgeous cerulean eyes even more dramatic. Her usual embroidered shirt and cardigan had been replaced by a fitted black tee-shirt with green sparkles on the hem and sleeves and a green sparkly paw print on her chest.

She giggled, eyes shining happily at him, and replied, “Well, I wanted to make sure I caught you before class.”

He quirked an eyebrow at her curiously, returning her smile, and she proffered a napkin and a bag with the TS bakery logo on it. “I wanted to say thanks for defending me from Lila and Chloe yesterday. It really meant a lot to me. I would have brought you coffee, too, but I don’t know how you take it and I didn’t want to get it wrong.”

He smiled gently at her and replied, “Thanks Marinette. That was sweet of you. And for future reference, one cream, one sugar, unless my father or Nathalie is present, in which case, black.” He opened the bag and grinned excitedly, digging out a warm, fresh pain au chocolat. “Ooh, this is sooo not in my diet,” he laughed, taking a big bite. Marinette giggled, and promised, “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

He smiled at her, and she giggled again at the smudge of chocolate on his lip. She reached up and gently brushed it off with her thumb, and then, before she could second-guess her devilish impulse, stuck her thumb into her mouth and sucked off the chocolate. She grinned and winked at him, strolling away and offering over her shoulder, “See you in class, Agreste.”

He stared for a minute at the paw prints strategically placed on each pocket on the back of her jeans and swallowed, feeling hot around the collar and realizing he was in trouble. He could handle confident Ladybug and stuttering Marinette, but confident, flirty Marinette wearing Chat Noir merch that she’d obviously made herself… he was not prepared for flirty Marinette. Oh God, so not prepared.

Morning classes went by in a blur as he tried not to think about the girl sitting behind him. It was a good thing Nino was taking notes, because he was pretty sure he was going to have to ask for them. He definitely needed to figure out how to refocus, or discovering Marinette was Ladybug would tank his GPA. Thankfully it was Saturday, so at least he didn’t have to pretend to pay attention to afternoon classes as well.

When the final bell rang, he twisted around in his seat and asked, “Hey Marinette, can I walk you home?”

She blushed, but then smiled and nodded, regaining her poise. “Sure Adrien, that would be great.” They grabbed their stuff and headed out, but he made small talk until they were clear of the school. Once they had some privacy, he reached out and gently grabbed her hand, stopping her so she turned to face him. She looked up at him questioningly, and he smiled reassuringly. “Marinette, I was wondering if you’d be interested in coming to some of my fashion shoots. I know how much you love designing, and I thought it would be a fun opportunity for us to hang out, since I don’t get to see much of you outside of school.”

Marinette blinked at him, looking surprised. She started to smile, but then it turned into a worried frown. “What about your father?”

“I already talked to him and got permission,” Adrien replied, smiling encouragingly.

Marinette grinned back and replied enthusiastically, “Well, in that case, I’d love to, that sounds amazing!”

They smiled at each other, leaning in a bit, but then a car backfired, breaking the moment. They laughed a little and turned to keep walking, and it was only when they reached the bakery that Adrien realized Marinette had never let go of his hand. He smiled and squeezed hers gently before releasing it so he could open the door for her. She smiled at him as she brushed by and went to greet her parents. They greeted Adrien warmly, asking if he would like to stay for lunch. He glanced, surprised, at Marinette, and she smiled and shrugged. “I’d love you to stay for lunch if you can.”

“Let me check,” he answered, digging out his phone and texting Nathalie. He’d asked for some extra time to walk Marinette home after school so he could talk to her, but hadn’t anticipated that she might want him to stay.

A minute later his phone dinged. “Woah,” he said, eyes widening in surprise, “she said yes!” He decided not to mention the reminder to avoid carbs and stick to foods his dietitian had approved. He’d long since resigned himself to sneaking food whenever he could to supplement his diet, since it didn’t account for all the extra calories he burned as Chat Noir. There were many things he worried about, but gaining weight was not one of them.

Marinette beamed at him, and took him by the hand again to lead him up the stairs to her apartment. He smiled, loving the way her small warm hand felt holding his and deciding that he was going to take every opportunity he could come up with from now on to hold her hand. He’d been touch starved for so long, and when he _was_ touched, it was almost always unwelcome, like when Chloe or Lila would hang off of him at school. It was wonderful to be touched by someone he loved, who truly cared about him.

Lunch was simple, but filling and delicious. Sabine served up bowls of chow mein with traditional Chinese egg noodles, crispy vegetables, and chicken, and no one shamed him for having seconds! It was honestly sort of a bittersweet experience. On one hand, he absolutely loved eating with Marinette and her family, enjoying the relaxed and friendly atmosphere just as much as the delicious food. On the other, it had never been so clear to him how desperately sad and lonely his own home life really was. Someday, he hoped he could build a life that looked like this. This is what family should be.

Marinette walked him out afterwards and reached up on her tiptoes to place a quick kiss on his cheek, smiling at him. “Thanks for staying. I hope we can do this again, it was really nice.”

He smiled and nodded. “I hope so too. I’ll text you the details for my next shoots, okay?”

Marinette smiled and nodded, turning to go back in with a quick wave, but he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She turned back around inquisitively and he grinned and leaned down to press a soft warm kiss on her cheek, lingering a moment longer than was strictly polite. “Bye, Mari,” he breathed softly in her ear, before turning and hopping in the car.

She stared after the car with wide eyes until it turned the corner, hand pressed to her reddening cheek, and Adrien laughed to himself. A little payback was only fair, after all.

The next few weeks saw them settling into a new pattern. She would meet him in front of the school with coffee and a croissant, make small talk, and then flirt with him and make her escape, usually giggling.

He’d spend the morning doing his best not to think about her (he was getting better, really! He’d only had to ask Nino for his notes twice). He’d spend lunch with her, or sometimes with her and Alya and Nino, whenever his father agreed, which was still sadly not that often. If he had to eat at home, he’d do a video call with her and they’d chat while they ate. As soon as afternoon classes were over, he’d walk her out, and flirt with her before hopping in his car to leave. He loved the effect he had on her; somehow while his flirty comments had always fallen flat on Ladybug, they seemed to work very well on Marinette, to the point that he’d left her speechless and blushing more than once. He was so relieved that Marinette seemed to want him to flirt with her. He’d been worried that Ladybug’s insistence that they get to know each other would prohibit that type of behavior, but he figured since she initiated it, she must be okay with it. And honestly, it just made him so happy every time he saw her respond to him, mitigating the pain of all the refusals he’d endured as Chat Noir and bolstering his confidence.

Typically after he was done with his homework in the evening, he’d call her, and they’d play video games, or just chat while they relaxed. He discovered he loved watching her sketch, especially the few times she’d get engrossed in what she was doing. She had the cutest ‘concentrating’ face, she got a tiny little v between her eyebrows, and her tongue stuck out just a bit. Someday he was going to be able to tell her how much he wanted to kiss her every time she made that face.

He was so glad his father had agreed to let her come to his photo-shoots; it had livened up an activity that he mostly just did to please his father into something he anticipated. While she could only come to the ones that were outside of school hours, that still usually gave them a couple three or four hour long blocks of time every week to be together outside of school. Of course, it wasn’t as good as actually getting that time free to spend hanging out with her wherever she wanted, but it was still nice. He loved seeing the way her eyes lit up when she got to see the clothes he was modeling, and how much she enjoyed talking to the photographers, makeup artists and occasionally even designers. He loved how much more relaxed he felt just having her there, the stolen glances at her expressions, the jokes and casual conversation every time he had a break, and especially the hug or cheek kiss he’d usually get when it was time to say goodbye. 

It had been so long since he’d had someone who cared so openly about him, who was willing to show him affection and shower him with attention whenever he asked, that he’d almost forgotten what it was like. Gaining Nino as his best friend had helped some, but… it was different with Marinette. She was special, not because she was Ladybug, but because she was Marinette. Being the focus of Marinette’s attention and affection was amazing, and the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to spend.

His life hadn’t actually changed that much on the face of things, but somehow suddenly he never felt like he had to be alone. He loved that Marinette always wanted to talk to him, and that she always made time for him even though she was so busy and constantly involved with projects for herself and all of her friends. He never felt like he was bothering her; he could see how much she enjoyed his company and how much her eyes lit up every time she saw him. She made him feel special, all the time. The really funny thing, though, was how natural loving Marinette felt. He had wondered at first if it would be strange; he had been in love with Ladybug for so long, and Marinette did act differently out of the mask. But as the weeks went on and she became more comfortable with him, he saw Ladybug and Marinette as one girl more and more, to the point where finally she was always just Marinette to him. And he loved her, so much more than he’d ever thought he could love the girl behind the mask, because he’d finally admitted to himself that _he’d wanted it to be Marinette_. That’s why it had hurt him so much every time she’d said she didn’t like him, every time she’d run away or acted like he made her nervous or uncomfortable, why he’d insisted to everyone who’d asked that she was just a friend over and over. He couldn’t stand the thought of falling in love with another girl who would reject him. 

Marinette was wonderful, and he loved every brave, clumsy, stubborn, clever, kind piece of her.

Now he just had to find the perfect time and place to tell her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette decides she needs to be honest with her kitty; she just needs to find the purrrfect opportunity!

Marinette was on cloud nine. She still wasn’t totally sure the Adrien knew that she was Ladybug, though at this point she strongly suspected he did. Honestly, though, she didn’t really care anymore. It felt like the lines and barriers between them were disappearing more and more every day, every minute she spent with him. She’d make a pun, just to see his Chat grin peep out before he could suppress it. He’d tease her and she’d bop his nose before she could stop herself. They really hadn’t spent that much time together, but somehow once she got past the fact that it was _Adrien_ , it felt so natural she almost couldn’t believe she’d ever had a problem talking to him. Of course, every time he flirted with her, she would remember and be reduced to a red-colored pile of incoherent goo, but luckily he didn’t do really overt flirting very much, limiting himself to once or twice a day and usually (luckily) as they were saying goodbye, so at least she didn’t fall apart in front of him. Instead, they developed an easy friendship more along the lines of what she’d always pictured having as Ladybug with Chat Noir, if they’d ever gotten time to chat without the masks and their duties and responsibilities separating and distracting them. 

The more she’d seen, the more she realized her initial supposition was right. The real Adrien, behind his mask and his model smile, was actually an interestingly natural blend of Chat Noir’s flirty dorkiness and Adrien’s kind sweetness that completely melted Marinette every time she saw it. The more he felt comfortable being himself around her, the more she realized how rarely it happened around anyone else, and that made her confusingly sad and happy. Sad, because she wished he could be comfortable enough to be himself all the time, and happy because he was starting to be comfortable enough with _her_ to be himself. She treasured those moments so much. Of course, she loved his Chat sides and his Adrien sides too, but… not as much as the first time she heard his real laugh, the one he couldn’t hold in when something was so funny it made him cry (it was totally ridiculous, and she loved it so much!), or the way they could talk for hours and sometimes they were serious, but then he’d make a joke and she’d tease back and he’d smile in the way that made her melt, or the way every time he stepped into her home a layer of tension and reserve seemed to float off of him.

She loved him more every day, and she was starting to worry because she didn’t know it was possible to love someone this much, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep it inside and _not tell him_. Adrien was the kind of person who deserved to be told how much he was loved and cherished every day, and she wanted to tell him so badly, and it killed her even more because she now strongly suspected that no one else (Gabriel) was telling Adrien that, either. 

She’d actually started to feel even worse about her selfish demand that Chat figure out who she was. She’d known it was unfair to ask when she’d done it, but since coming to know Adrien better, she’d started hating herself more than a bit for putting that much pressure on him. While she couldn’t help her inherent insecurities, she’d resolved that going forward, she really needed to work on making sure she didn’t punish Adrien for them. And while a small, selfish part of her still wanted Chat to confirm that he’d figured out Marinette was Ladybug and he loved all of her, she’d realized that that really wasn’t the most important thing to her anymore. The most important thing was being able to tell the boy she loved that she loved all of him, and to make sure that he never had to spend another day doubting it. She just wasn’t sure how much longer she should spend developing their friendship, before she took the next step. She didn’t want to rush things, but it was so hard to be patient!

A month after Chat’s identity reveal, Marinette couldn’t stand it anymore. While she loved her new friendship with Adrien, she had to tell him how she felt. It was starting to feel like lying whenever they had an affectionate or flirty moment and she didn’t tell him.

She spent several nights setting up a rooftop with everything she’d need. Finally, the day came. She was super nervous, which wasn’t helped by the fact that everyone was acting weird. Her parents had been acting weird the previous night, and were still acting weird that morning when she went downstairs for breakfast. She kept glancing covertly at Tikki trying to figure out if she’d done something stupid that would give away her identity, because that was the level of weirdness currently happening, but Tikki couldn’t think of anything they’d done either that might have given her away. Her father kept starting to make jokes, but then her mother would elbow him and give him a _look_ , and he would grin and stop, just to try again thirty seconds later. Finally she escaped to school, but Alya and Nino were acting strange too. Alya kept grinning at her, and she kept whispering things to Nino when she thought Marinette wasn’t paying attention. Strangest of all, though, was Adrien. He seemed very… hyper, was really the word she was looking for. It was extremely odd to see him so fidgety and energetic, and he kept looking at her with this mischievous excited expression that was kind of melting her insides, making it really hard to focus in class.

Lunch finally came, and she was about to make an excuse and run home. Normally she sought out every opportunity to spend time with Adrien that she could, but the way he was behaving today was winding her up and she needed a break if she was going to keep her composure and make it through their afternoon classes. Unfortunately, before she could escape, Adrien turned around and grinned at her. Her eyes went wide as her face turned red; normally he reserved that particular expression for when he was saying goodbye, presumably because he’d figured out that it melted her brain and wanted to spare her the humiliation in front of other people.

“Marinette,” he coaxed gently, “Do you mind if I go to your house for lunch? Tom texted and asked if we’d like to eat there and try out a new recipe.”

Marinette stared at the gorgeous blond boy making kitty eyes at her, scrambling desperately to find words before giving up and just nodding jerkily. Adrien grinned again and grabbed her bag, slinging it over his shoulder before offering a hand to help her out of her seat. She still couldn’t talk, but she smiled up at him as he casually looped her arm through his and walked them out, making sure she didn’t trip. 

They were silent all the way to the bakery, mostly because Marinette still couldn’t remember how to talk. Every time she’d thought she’d regained the power of speech, she’d glance at him and lose it again. She didn’t know what the meaning was of the wide excited smile on his face, but she found herself torn between wanting to see it every day, and hoping she never saw it again because then she’d never be able to speak to him coherently, she’d never be able to tell him she loved him, and then they’d never start dating, get married, and have three children and a cat, no, a hamster…

Adrien was laughing quietly as he opened the door for her, making her flush even though she couldn’t detect any trace of mockery in his expression, just a beaming joy that made her stomach squirm even as she couldn’t help but smile back at him.

They walked into the bakery, only to be greeted by Sabine. Marinette frowned, confused. “Hi mom, where’s dad?” she asked, starting to walk back to the prep area, but Sabine quickly put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Hello, you two! Why don’t you go on up to the balcony and have lunch? We just got a pretty big last minute order and your father is a little swamped at the moment. I just brought up the food for you. You can tell your father how you liked his surprise later, okay?”

Marinette quirked an eyebrow at her mother, confused, but Sabine just smiled serenely and motioned her encouragingly up the stairs. “Are you sure he doesn’t need help?” Marinette asked, worried, and Sabine smiled warmly at her.

“No dear, that’s kind of you but we’ll be fine. You should go enjoy your lunch before it gets cold; I want to be sure you have time to eat before you have to get back to school!”

Marinette nodded and gave her mother a quick hug before leading Adrien up the stairs, through the living area and her room up on to the balcony. She paused as soon as she opened the trap door, though, and gasped. Her balcony had been transformed. There were flowers everywhere, big beautiful bouquets filling the space with a lush heady scent. The table was set with a fat white candle and a clear vase with one long-stemmed rose, white at the base of the petals with blushing pinkish red edges. There were two place settings, and she saw a few containers of food, as well as a small, heart-shaped pink-frosted cake with their names on it.

Marinette turned to Adrien with tears in her eyes as he took her hands and smiled at her. “Marinette,” he said gently, bringing one hand up to cup her cheek, “I’ve wanted to be your friend from the very first day we met. You’re the most amazing girl I know. Getting closer to you these last few weeks has made me realize something.” Marinette stared up at him, lost in his brilliant spring green eyes, and blushed harder as his eyes suddenly crinkled. “Breathe, Marinette,”

She blinked and then realized he was right, she was starting to feel light headed from holding her breath. She let it out in a gust and he laughed, a deep, rich, real laugh that made her blush a thousand times worse, before continuing.

“Mari, you are amazing. I called you our everyday Ladybug because you are brave, and smart, and passionate, but you’re amazing in other ways, too, not just because you’re like Ladybug. You are so sweet, and so thoughtful and caring towards your friends. You’re so stubborn and you can be so confident when you think you’re right, but you also listen, and you’re willing to admit when you might be wrong. You’re so clever, funny, creative, sweet, and loving. Marinette, you are the best friend I could ask for,” he asserted, and then watched as she winced and looked down. He gently tilted her chin back up so she’d look at him again, and he smiled at her. “You are my friend,” he insisted, still holding her chin so she’d meet his eyes, “But I also want you to be more than that.”

Marinette blinked and started to smile, though she was still blushing hotly. “You do?”

Adrien nodded, still smiling at her. “I do. I see you, Marinette,” he hesitated and added, “Ladybug… and I love you.”

Marinette gasped. Adrien slotted their fingers together, and slid the other from her cheek around to cradle the back of her head, pulling her a little closer. “Milady, may I kiss you?”

She laughed joyously, though tears were beginning to well in her eyes, and slid her hands around him. “Yes, Adrien, you may,” she replied softly.

He smiled and pulled her close, slowly kissing her. Marinette smiled against him before pulling him closer, slanting her face to deepen the kiss as she stretched up to meet his taller frame.

When they finally broke apart, she was breathless but beaming, happiness more intense than anything she’d ever known burning through her. “I love you too, minou,” she said, caressing his face. He beamed at her and pulled away briefly to grab a small pink package out of his backpack. She pulled the paper off to see a jewelry box, and opened it slowly to reveal a gleaming silver necklace with five small charms. One was a jeweled ladybug, one was a silver tag with her name on one side and his on the other in flowing cursive script, one was a charm with two silver hands with the little fingers connected by a red thread, and the last two were a deep pink ruby and an emerald, both heart-shaped. She was crying when she looked back up at him.

“Thank you! It’s perfect.” She offered it to him so he could put it on, and he grinned.

“Just as perfect as you are for me?”

“Nothing could be that perfect,” She teased, and he smiled back and shrugged, agreeing.

Their lunch was cold by the time they actually got around to eating it, but neither minded. When they finally came downstairs, Marinette realized why her father was not around when they’d come home. Tom spied the necklace and their joined hands and did a fist pump with a huge smile, before congratulating them in a super over-the-top and embarrassing manner (grandchildren may have been mentioned more than once) that luckily Adrien seemed to find amusing. Marinette started laughing, realizing her parents had been in on the plan and her mom had made her dad hide so he wouldn’t spoil the surprise. 

As they were walking back to school, Marinette finally remembered her surprise. “Oh, kitty, are you still available for patrol tonight?” she asked, though she’d already triple-checked this earlier in the week. Adrien gave her a curious look but confirmed that yes, he was available and would meet her at the Torcadero at 9 PM. She grinned.

Later that night, Ladybug met Chat and led him on a patrol that was more like an elaborate game of tag, until she landed on a rooftop surrounded with candles and covered with rose petals. When Chat landed a moment later, she pulled a perfect de-thorned red rose out of her yo-yo and handed it to him with a smile. 

Chat’s grin was so large Ladybug started laughing breathlessly.

“It occurred to me that I owe you a date, kitty.”

Chat looked around curiously, knowing that Marinette had had plans after school with Alya and wouldn’t have had time to do this last minute.

“You were planning this before our lunch?” he asked her, a bit breathless himself.

She nodded. “I just… I didn’t want to wait anymore to tell you how I felt about you. The way you were with me as Chat, and as Adrien, I just realized that it was enough, that you did care about me, and I needed to tell you that I see you, and I love you so much.”

Chat smiled even as his eyes started to tear up. Somehow, having her tell him like this was so much more than he’d expected, even more than hearing her say it back to him at lunch, and his heart was suddenly overflowing, overwhelmed with the love he felt for this amazing girl.

It was a good thing the rooftop she’d picked was pretty secluded, or the sweet, tender kisses they shared under the moonlight that night would have been the top news story in the City of Love. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And you know, Tom is already wondering when he's going to get grandchildren ; )
> 
> As a quick note, in several Eastern cultures the red thread of fate symbolizes soul mates, people who are fated to be together. From what I read, it might be more appropriate to have the charm be around ankles since Marinette is Chinese, but from a design standpoint, I think a hand charm would be cuter and in theory easier to find (though when I googled this I didn't see much aside from red thread bracelets, but I'm sure you could find one if you were determined like a certain feline superhero!).
> 
> There we have it! If you're not in a fluff coma, please feel free to let me know what you thought. Thanks for reading, and thank you to everyone who commented - I didn't respond to everything, but I've read them all and I loved getting so much feedback and encouragement! Thank you so much!!


End file.
